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Failed UN

Several Russian politicians claim West responsible for orchestrating shooting

A senior Russian MP and Putin ally has said Western countries planned the fatal shooting of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey.

Andrey Karlov was shot dead at an art gallery in Ankara by a man believed to be Mevlűt Mert Altintaş, 22, an off-duty Turkish police officer.

Altintaş reportedly shouted: “We die in Aleppo, you die here”, before shooting the ambassador repeatedly in the back.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed shortly after that Mr Karlov had died from his wounds and called the killing “a terrorist act”.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "Today in Ankara as a result of an attack, the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Turkey, Andrey Gennadyevich Karlov, received a wound from which he died.

“We regard this as a terrorist act."

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who leads the right-wing nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, said the killing was “a false flag operation by the West”.

Mr Zhirinovsky claimed the West orchestrated the shooting to prevent Turkish-Russian rapprochement following a year of tensions, which have gradually eased in recent months.

Other Russian politicians also rushed to link Western governments to the assasination.

Alexey Pushkov, the former head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian State Duma, or lower house of parliament, claimed the killing was a direct result of media "hysteria" concerning Aleppo, purveyed by "enemies" of Moscow.

Frantz Klintsevich, the deputy chairman of the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament’s defence and security committee, reportedly said the assassination of Mr Karlov was a “true provocation”.

He said: "It was a planned action. Everyone knew that he was going to attend this photo exhibition.

"It can be Isis, or the Kurdish army which tries to hurt Erdogan.

"But may be - and it is highly likely - that representatives of foreign Nato secrets services are behind it.

"What has happened is a true provocation, a challenge. It is a challenge for Russia", he added.

Mr Klintsevich has previously promised a “harsh and unambiguous” response from Russia in response to NATO expansion and said Russia would “aim our weapons, including the nuclear ones” at any countries that seek to join the Western military pact.

The shooting came a day before Russia, Turkey and Iran were due to hold talks over the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Russia and Iran have backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey has supported his enemies.

World leaders and foreign minsters rushed to condemn the assassination. UK Foreign Secretary Boreign Johnson called it "despicable" and "cowardly".

Failed UN

Following massive Israeli pressure on President Sissi and calls by Trump for a U.S. veto, Egypt decides to delay the vote on its proposed resolution until the Arab League convenes, diplomats tell Haaretz.

Egypt asked to postpone the vote at the UN Security Council on a draft resolution it had put forward on Israeli settlements Thursday following Israeli pressure, western diplomats with knowledge of the matter told Haaretz, adding there was a chance it would be delayed "indefinitely."

The diplomats said the Egypt put forward the resolution on Wednesday evening with the intent of having it put to a vote. According to diplomats, in the early morning hours, Netanyahu exerted heavy pressure on Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi to try to have it delayed.

The diplomats said that in wake of the Israeli pressure, Egypt requested the vote's delay to permit them to conduct an additional meeting of the Arab League's foreign ministers to work on the resolution's wording.

It was unclear when the new vote, initially scheduled for Thursday, would take place, if ever, with diplomats saying it could be put off "indefinitely." The request came hours of President-elect Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested the U.S. veto the resolution.

Egypt presented the UN Security Council on Wednesday night with a draft resolution against Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

A senior Israeli official said that should the U.S. fail to veto the resolution, it would be breaching its long-standing commitment to Israel. The official added that Israel expects the U.S. to act in accordance with its long-term policy, unhindered by changes in administration, according to which negotiations must be carried out directly between Israel and the Palestinians themselves.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump issued a statement Thursday calling on President Barack Obama to veto the resolution. According to Trump, if the resolution is adopted by the Security Council this would be unfair toward Israelis and will place Israel at a disadvantage in future negotiations.

Earlier on Thursday, the French ambassador to Israel said that the draft UN Security Council resolution against the settlements submitted by Egypt is balanced and matches France's position, and that she expects her country to support it.

Hélène Le Gal also said that it was Israel’s settlement policy, in particular the advancement of the outpost legalization bill, that pushed Egypt and the international community to promote an anti-settlement resolution in the Security Council. The statements by some Israeli ministers that Israel should launch a wave of settlement construction and take the two-state solution off the table also gave a push to the Security Council move, she added.

In recent months, Netanyahu expressed his concern that toward the end of his term Obama would refrain from vetoing a resolution on the settlements at the Security Council. Since taking office in 2009, Obama vetoed a resolution presented to the Security Council once – in February 2011, when the Palestinians brought to a vote a resolution against the settlements.

The draft resolution's main clauses

The Egyptian draft resolution is a little milder than the versions circulated by the Palestinians in the past two weeks. According to the text itself, the resolution:

■ "Reaffirms that the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-state solution."

■ "Reiterates its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem."

Stresses that the cessation of all Israeli settlement activities is essential for salvaging the two-state solution, and calls for affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse the negative trends on the ground that are imperiling the two-state solution."

■ "Underlines that it will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations."

■ "Calls upon all States, to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967."

■ "Calls for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction, calls for accountability in this regard, and calls for compliance with obligations under international law for the strengthening of ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, including through existing security coordination, and to clearly condemn all acts of terrorism; and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric."

With hours until UNSC vote, US president-elect says measure halting settlements would be "unfair to all Israelis".

Hours before the United Nations Security Council was to vote on a draft resolution demanding Israel halts settlement activities in occupied Palestinian territories, President-elect Donald Trump urged the US to veto the measure.

Egypt on Wednesday circulated the draft calling on Israel to "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem".

The vote was scheduled for 3pm (20:00 GMT) on Thursday.

"The resolution being considered at the United Nations Security Council regarding Israel should be vetoed," Trump said in a statement on Thursday.

"As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through the imposition of terms by the United Nations," he said.

"This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis," Trump added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier tweeted a similar message. "The US should veto the anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council on Thursday," he wrote.

A similar resolution was vetoed by the United States in 2011, and it remained uncertain if the measure would be adopted this time.

Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and seen as major stumbling block to peace efforts as they are built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel.

The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Israel disputes that settlements are illegal and says their final status should be determined in any future talks on Palestinian statehood.

The UN maintains settlements are illegal and has repeatedly called on Israel to halt them, but there has been a surge in construction over the past months.

A resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted.

Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said US President Barack Obama should push for the resolution to pass before leaving office.

"The Israeli government is violating international law; by doing so it is undermining the whole status of Israel," he told Al Jazeera.

"If there is somebody to be blamed, it is the Israeli government ... I do hope that President Obama will listen to us and at least allow this resolution to pass. He has failed us in the past. He promised he would ask Israel to stop settlement activities and he failed to do so for eight years."'No legal validity'

Wednesday's draft text says the establishment of settlements by Israel has "no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law".

It also states that Israeli settlements are "dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution" that would see an independent state of Palestine co-exist alongside Israel.

The text stresses that halting settlements was "essential for salvaging the two-state solution, and calls for affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse the negative trends on the ground".

UN diplomats see the resolution as a final chance for council action on the Middle East before Trump succeeds Obama on January 20.

"We do know that there is a great deal of anger in the [US] administration at, frankly, the utter lack of progress on Middle East peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians over the last eight years," said Al Jazeera's Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington DC.

"The Obama administration police has been clear that while they have policy differences, they feel that any Security Council resolution would be unhelpful for what they still call a peace process. We'll have to wait and see," Rattansi added.

US abstains in demanding Israel to halt settlements on Palestinian land, allowing Security Council to pass resolution.

The UN Security Council has voted in favour of a resolution demanding the halt of settlement activity by Israel on occupied Palestinian territory with the United States notably abstaining.

The resolution was put forward at the 15-member council for a vote on Friday by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal, a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from Israel and US president-elect Donald Trump.

Israel and Trump had called on the US to veto the measure.

"This is a day of victory for international law, a victory for civilised language and negotiation and a total rejection of extremist forces in Israel," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters news agency.

"The international community has told the people of Israel that the way to security and peace is not going to be done through occupation ... but rather through peace, ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state to live side by side with the state of Israel on the 1967 line," Erekat said.

The resolution was adopted with 14 votes in favour to a resounding round of applause. It is the first resolution the Security Council has adopted on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.

"Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the UN and will not abide by its terms," a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The United States' abstention was the biggest rebuke in recent history to long-standing ally Israel, allowing the Security Council to condemn its settlements and continuing construction in Palestinian territory as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

The resolution said Israel's settlements on Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have "no legal validity." It demanded a halt to "all Israeli settlement activities", saying this "is essential for salvaging the two-state solution".

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had backtracked on the move to condemn Israel's settlement policy on Thursday after receiving a phone call from US president-elect Donald Trump, who spoke out in favour of a US veto.

Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said his government had expected a US veto of "this disgraceful resolution". "I have no doubt that the new US administration and the incoming UN secretary-general will usher in a new era in terms of the UN's relationship with Israel," said Danon after the vote.

Trump said in a tweet: "As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20th."

Trump is likely to be a more staunch supporter of Netanyahu's right-wing policies. He named a hardline, pro-settlement ambassador to Israel and vowed to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Israeli settlements are seen as a major stumbling block to peace efforts as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.

The United Nations maintains that settlements are illegal, but UN officials have reported a surge in construction over the past months.

Yuval Steinitz, Israeli energy minister, accused the US of abandoning Israel by abstaining.

"This is not a resolution against settlements, it is an anti-Israel resolution, against the Jewish people and the state of the Jews. The United States tonight has simply abandoned its only friend in the Middle East," Steinitz, who is close to Netanyahu, told Channel Two News.

Some 430,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 Israelis live in occupied East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as the capital of their future state.

The passage of the resolution changes nothing on the ground between Israel and the Palestinians, and likely will be all but ignored by the incoming Trump administration.

But it was more than merely symbolic.

The resolution formally enshrined the international community's disapproval of Israeli settlement building and could spur further Palestinian moves against Israel in international forums.

Sharif Nashashibi, a London-based analyst of Arab political affairs, told Al Jazeera he feared the vote will be just one of many UN resolutions that Israel will flout.

"We don't have any mechanism to put tangible pressure on Israel to abide by this resolution, so I fear that despite the passing of this resolution, the Security Council has still proved itself largely irrelevant to this conflict," Nashashibi said.

Before the vote, a senior Israeli official said if adopted there was "zero chance" the Israeli government would abide by the measure. Under the UN Charter, UN member states "agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council".

The Local Planning and Building Committee of the Jerusalem municipality is expected to approve some 5,600 housing units in East Jerusalem for illegal settlements, the Hebrew version of daily newspaper Israel Hayom reported Sunday morning.

According to Israel Hayom, the move came as a direct response to the UNSC resolution 2334, that passed with unanimous approval from 14 council members, while the US abstained from voting.

The reports said that the committee will approve 2,600 housing units in the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo, 2,600 others in Givat HaMatos, and 400 units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement. A spokesperson for the Jerusalem municipality could not immediately be reached to confirm the reports.

Israel Hayom also quoted deputy mayor of Jerusalem Meir Turjuman as saying that he “did not care” about the United Nations or “any other entity that tries to dictate to us what to do in Jerusalem.

The deputy mayor also reportedly said he was looking forward to the incoming Donald Trump administration to “make up for the shortage in construction during Obama’s eight-year tenure.”

Despite the US government under Barack Obama, having routinely condemned Israel’s settlement expansions, US officials have yet to take any concrete actions to end settlement building and instead inadvertently encouraged the enterprise through consistent inaction over Israel’s violation of international law and continued support of the Israeli government through inflated military aid packages.

The number of settlers living in the occupied West Bank has increased from 281,100 in 2008 to 385,900 in 2015, excluding those residing in occupied East Jerusalem. The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) estimates that between 500,000 and 600,000 Israeli settlers currently reside in West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements.

Meanwhile, plans for some 3,000 settler units were advanced since the start 2016 as of August according to Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, including hundreds of existing units that were “retroactively legalised” after formerly being considered illegal under Israeli domestic law.

Israeli leadership has reacted with outrage and defiance since the UNSC approved the resolution, which states that settlements have “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law,” and call on the nations of the world “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

Over 100 Children Accuse UN Peacekeepers of Rape

Over 100 Children Accuse UN Peacekeepers of Rape — Not a Single Soldier Charged

2017

It was recently reported that UN peacekeepers will not be charged for sex crimes against children that they allegedly violated while they were stationed in the Central African Republic. The French Government investigated the French soldiers who were accused of the attacks, but they found no evidence of wrongdoing, as often happens when organizations investigate their own. French prosecutors claim that they had insufficient evidence to charge the soldiers, but over 100 children have leveled accusations against them. Do they expect the world to believe that all of these children are lying?

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the agency defers to local governments in situations like this.

“So obviously we’ll keep an eye on this. But as we’ve said, it is the responsibility of member states to fully investigate and hopefully prosecute crimes. The fight against impunity for these horrendous actions has to be a partnership between the UN and member states,” Dujarric said.There is a second investigation that is currently ongoing which involves UN peacekeepers and sexual assault in the Central African Republic. However, it is not clear whether or not this investigation is relating to the same accusations — or new crimes that have taken place since.

This is not the first time that UN workers have been accused of these types of crimes. After the UN has entered areas like Cambodia, Mozambique, Bosnia, Sudan and Kosovo, there was an explosion of sex trafficking and numerous reports of abuse. In the past several years, the UN was caught attempting to cover-up the fact that there were 231 people in Haiti who claimed they were sexually violated by UN peacekeepers, and were forced to perform sexual acts in exchange for food and supplies that were intended as relief packages.

There are almost too many cases to list in which high-profile public figures or organizations were accused in pedophilia or human trafficking cases. However, they almost always dodge any prosecution or public scrutiny due to their control of the legal system and media.

There have been many cases in recent history where establishment figures have been caught up in child prostitution rings but quickly had the story swept under the rug.

One such case was on June 29, 1989, when the Washington Times’ Paul M. Rodriguez and George Archibald reported on a Washington D.C. prostitution ring that had intimate connections with the White House and President George H.W. Bush. It was suspected that this was connected with the Franklin prostitution ring that was being exposed at the same time, in a different part of the country.

That story involved the manager of the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union in Nebraska. His name was Lawrence “Larry” King and he was also a prominent politician. Various unconnected victims accused him of transporting them around the country to be used as sex slaves for politicians. When the accusations finally came to light, the victims were railroaded out of court and threatened into recanting their statements, thus making themselves guilty of perjury in the process.

The perjury was unfortunately enough to drop the case and actually send some of the victims to jail. The truth of the matter didn’t come out until former Nebraska State Senator John DeCamp went back to reexamine the case and discovered that the accusations were indeed true.

Human trafficking is an industry of the ruling class, it always has been. Your average blue-collar, white-collar people aren’t buying slaves, and they certainly aren’t selling them either! This is still very much a part of western culture, even companies with major government contracts have been accused of organizing full-scale slave rings. These companies have not only been protected by their governments, but they were also able to keep the contracts and subsidies that they had prior to the accusations.

Some of the world’s largest multinational corporations such as DynCorp and Halliburton were exposed as major players in the global human trafficking market. These companies did not work alone, but cooperated with each other through various subsidiaries and had the luxury of government protection.

When suspicion was brought upon these companies it was swept under the rug by government officials. Even high-ranking members of the establishment such as Donald Rumsfeld were implicit in covering up this scandal. On March 11th 2005, he was questioned by Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and he admitted on the record that the allegations did have credibility, but he pushed the blame off onto a few “rogue” employees. He used the “few bad apples” line that the government always dishes out when they are caught up in a scandal.

Although Rumsfeld and other high-ranking officials claimed that they would look into the situation, they actually prevented any serious investigations from taking place. This happens every day, even organizations like the UN and NATO have come under fire for running slave rings out of third world countries when they are on “peacekeeping missions.”

What are these UN soldiers but bunch of soldiers banded together from different countries. These rapists did the same during Bosnia genocide, and have been doing the same in Africa with little girls, wanting sexual favors in exchange for humanitarian aide. These are the western power pride and joy, rapists soldiers of the pedophiles and war mongers.

2016
A United Nations official is headed to the Central African Republic after reports that over 100 women, girls and boys were raped and abused -- many by U.N. peacekeepers.

Jane Holl Lute, a senior U.N. official tasked with leading efforts to curb peacekeeper abuse, was en route to the country Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Allegations of sexual abuse by foreign and local forces have plagued the Central African Republic since the United Nations sent forces to the country two years ago. But they're still just as shocking as ever.

"When the most vulnerable in this world -- women and children who have lost everything -- when they look to the United Nations for protection, they should do so in the belief that their suffering is over, not just beginning," said Peter Wilson, the UK's deputy representative to the United Nations.

he violence prompted a humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homes. Other African countries and France also sent peacekeepers.But more than 100 victims said they were sexually abused by U.N. peacekeepers and non-U.N. forces, a U.N. official said Tuesday.

"Tragically, the vast majority of the victims are children," said Edmond Mulet, the U.N. chief of staff on sexual exploitation and abuse.

He added that these allegations "remain reports" and that "we need to verify and investigate them swiftly and professionally." No victims testified at a meeting to discuss the accusations at U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday.

If the allegations are substantiated against particular units, then the United Nations can decide whether to repatriate them -- but not prosecute them.

Accountability, Mulet said, is a "shared responsibility."

"It is only by working with member states, especially troop-contributing countries, that we will be able to ensure accountability and justice for the victims," Mulet said.

"All member states (must) live up to their responsibility to bring to justice those who have committed crimes while serving with the United Nations."

A 14-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch she was walking down a path in the bush when a soldier approached her in December.

"He ripped off my clothes and used them to tie my hands behind my back," she said. Then she was assaulted.

The United Nations issued its own report in December about sexual assault by its peacekeepers. It's over 100 pages, but the findings can be summed up in two words: We failed.

"Overall, the response of the U.N. was fragmented and bureaucratic, and failed to satisfy the U.N.'s core mandate to address human rights violations," it said.

"In the absence of concrete action to address wrongdoing by the very persons sent to protect vulnerable populations, the credibility of the U.N. and the future of peacekeeping operations are in jeopardy."

More allegations

But as this year has progressed, more sexual abuse allegations have surfaced involving peacekeeping forces in the Central African Republic.

A U.N. report in March indicated 17 of the allegations last year have so far been investigated, with 10 found unsubstantiated. The U.N. Security Council issued its own resolution on March 11, calling attention to the issue and issuing recommendations.

But a wave of particularly horrifying allegations surfaced at the end of the month, spurring a series of strongly worded news releases for a diplomatic body like the United Nations. CNN cannot independently confirm the allegations.

The U.N.'s top official in charge of human rights called the new accusations "sickening."

And Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said they were "despicable, depraved and deeply disturbing allegations."

But the U.N. would not confirm to CNN what specifically the new allegations were.Call for action

At the meeting Tuesday, Atul Khare, the U.N.'s under-secretary-general for field support, called on the countries that sent those accused to discipline them and carry out "criminal sanctions warranted under their national laws."

Khare also said new legislation should be proposed if current law would not cover prosecution of these alleged crimes.

The United Nations has also said that implicated troops must remain confined to their camp, "except for essential operational tasks and increasing the presence of military police at affected locations."

Khare said officials are working with children's agency UNICEF to ensure services and extra funds are available to help affected communities. He said the number of allegations is expected to rise.

One night last August as the Central African Republic was gripped by a conflict between Christian and Muslim groups, United Nations peacekeeping troops descended on an enclave in search of a suspect. One of the peacekeepers is accused of taking a 12-year-old girl behind a truck and raping her.

“When I cried, he slapped me hard and put his hand over my mouth,” the girl told Amnesty International.

It was hardly the only act of brutality by peacekeepers in the world’s poorest nations. There were 99 allegations of sexual abuse against UN staff last year, a 25 percent increase over 2014, affecting peacekeeping operations in countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Libya, Mali and Sudan.

Vulnerable civilians in armed conflict have long been victims of abusive soldiers. But the 104,000 blue-helmeted troops currently deployed are sent by more than a dozen countries to protect people. Their repeated failures are looming over the UN as it chooses a new leader and tarnishing the legacy of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who is ending his decade-long tenure amid accusations that he has not taken the issue seriously.

Under the Carpet

“For 10 years, the secretary general has been happy to sweep all of these allegations under the carpet, but this ‘out of sight, out of mind’ strategy has broken down before he reached the end of his term,” said Peter Gallo, a former UN investigator. “The organization’s manifest failure is to properly investigate any form of wrongdoing.”

Ban’s office denies the accusations -- the secretary-general was "shocked to the core" by the abuse, his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, responded-- and says he has moved aggressively. In April, the UN announced an investigation of allegations that peacekeepers from at least three countries had abused more than 100 girls in C.A.R., where the World Bank says nearly half the population of about 5 million needs humanitarian aid.

But damaging accounts keep surfacing, not only of abuse but of failure to investigate and act. Internal UN documents, leaked by AIDS-Free World, an advocacy group, include an episode in 2014 in which French troops were said to have forced four girls to perform obscene acts and tossed them a few dollars.

Last week, Anders Kompass, a senior UN official who had tried to expose earlier sexual abuse of children by French and African troops, resigned in frustration. He said he was horrified by "the complete impunity for those who have been found to have, in various degrees, abused their authority.” He told IRIN news service, "This makes it impossible for me to continue working there.”

A Damning Indictment

U.S. Republican Senator Bob Corker, who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, called Kompass’s resignation “a damning indictment of the leadership at the United Nations that has failed to end the horrific sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers and protect those who report wrongdoing.”

Ban’s successor must make fixing the problem a high priority, says Richard Gowan, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. UN officials have been publicly interviewing more than a dozen potential successors to Ban, with a final selection expected in October. All have said they would work to end the mistreatment.

“There are too many stories of sexual abuse by peacekeepers and too little evidence of operations succeeding,” Gowan said. “The next secretary-general will need a plan both to clean up peacekeeping and give it a greater sense of strategic purpose.”

Peacekeeping dates from the origins of the UN but has grown enormously. In 1948 the UN sent 50 guards to monitor the Israeli-Arab truce. Today, about 104,000 troops with access to attack helicopters and drones are deployed across Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Middle East. They are joined by an additional 16,500 civilian personnel. In the past quarter century, the budget has ballooned 16-fold to $8.3 billion.

Frequency and Impunity

Sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers was first documented in Bosnia and Kosovo in the early 1990s. As the frequency has increased, so has impunity for the perpetrators, partly because responsibility for punishment falls to home countries. The UN can send troops home and document the reasons why, but it can’t impose criminal charges or jail offenders.

“The UN is famous as a place where rapists get away with rape,” said Paula Donovan, co-founder and director of Aids-Free World.

The latest scandals go back to 2013 when boys at a refugee camp in C.A.R.’s capital, Bangui, say they were ordered to perform oral sex and raped by peacekeepers from France, Chad and Equatorial Guinea. A UN official produced a report which was sent to the human rights office in Geneva as well as to Unicef, the children’s agency. Neither took action.

Beatrice Edwards, executive director of the Government Accountability Project, an advocacy group, said UN staff are reluctant to report sexual abuse for fear of losing their jobs.

Leaked Report

Kompass, then field operations director at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, ultimately got fed up and leaked the buried report to French diplomats in Geneva who sent investigators to Bangui.

The UN rewarded Kompass for his efforts by suspending him and starting a disciplinary investigation. Miranda Brown, who worked with Kompass, then passed the report to the U.S. mission. Brown’s contract was not renewed, which she says was retaliation for her actions.

“The real problem is that the UN’s leadership are only accountable to themselves, ” said Brown, who has testified at Congressional hearings.

An external panel appointed last year by Ban issued a harsh report in December, accusing some UN officials of obstructing the investigation and focusing on punishing Kompass. It said the child sexual abuse report went from "from desk to desk, inbox to inbox."

Institutional Failure

“The end result was a gross institutional failure to respond to the allegations in a meaningful way,” it said. “In the absence of concrete action to address wrongdoing by the very persons sent to protect vulnerable populations, the credibility of the UN and peacekeeping operations are in jeopardy.”

The problem isn’t getting better on its own although a few steps have been taken. Ban appointed a special coordinator, Jane Holl Lute, a former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. And the Security Council authorized the peacekeeping office to send home troops whose countries fail to hold them accountable.

But the grinding bureaucracy moves slowly.

“For the UN to be fixed, it requires political will from other countries beyond the U.S.,” said Brett Schaefer, a researcher at the Heritage Foundation who has long been critical of the international organization. “The key is persevering after the spotlight has gone.”

These women say they were raped by UN peacekeepers sent to Haiti to protect them. Is the UN above the law?
{And when it is said to them: "Make not mischief on the earth," they say: "We are only peacemakers.} - Quran (2:11)

20 July 2017
A senior European Union representative has been advised to malign Palestine solidarity campaigners.Vera Jourova, the EU’s justice commissioner, was given a briefing paper earlier this year about how to handle various topics in a discussion with the pro-Israel lobby.Drawn up by Brussels officials, the paper provides some talking points about the EU’s “position” on the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. It alleges that “the encouragement of boycotts against cultural and academic institutions or artists” contradicts the “EU’s stand on non-discrimination and freedom of expression.”That paints a false picture of the BDS movement. Its activities are subject to guidelines, which make clear that the cultural boycott does not target Israeli artists as individuals.The cultural boycott is, instead, applied to artists who represent the Israeli state or institutions complicit in Israeli crimes or take part in branding exercises intended to divert attention away from the oppression of Palestinians.Jourova’s briefing paper – which was obtained under freedom of information rules – can be read below. It was prepared ahead of a Holocaust memorial ceremony held in January this year.The ceremony was hosted by Israel’s embassy to the EU and the American Jewish Committee, a pro-Israel advocacy group.The officials who drew up the paper recycle almost verbatim accusations made in 2016 by Katharina von Schnurbein, the EU’s anti-Semitism coordinator. Von Schnurbein had claimed that “anti-Semitic incidents rise after BDS activities” in Europe’s universities. She was unable to provide specific examples of such incidents when asked.Jourova’s office did not respond to requests for comment.“Appalled”

The BDS National Committee, a Palestinian umbrella group that coordinates boycott activities, stated that it was “appalled” by Jourova’s briefing paper. The document “defamed the BDS movement as anti-Semitic,” Ingrid Jaradat, a legal adviser to the committee, stated.A crucial detail omitted from the briefing paper is that the BDS movement has consistentlydenouncedanti-Jewish bigotry.Jourova’s briefing paper is at odds with previous comments made by other EU representatives.The Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherinistated last year that the EU “stands firm in protecting freedom of expression.” Although she opposed the boycott of Israel, Mogherini recognized that activists have a right to advocate BDS tactics. That right is protected by the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.Despite the clarity of that statement, some of the EU’s institutions and governments have continued to cast aspersions against the Palestine solidarity movement.Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has conflated opposition to Israel’s state ideology Zionism with hatred of Jews. On Sunday, Macron called anti-Zionism “a mere re-invention of anti-Semitism.”Dishonesty

Macron’s comments echo a decades-long effort by Israel and its supporters to imply that Palestine solidarity activists have ulterior motives. The efforts have been undertaken since at least 1973, when Abba Eban, Israel’s foreign minister at the time, labeled anti-Zionism as the “new anti-Semitism.”That deliberate dishonesty has been reflected by a dubious definition of anti-Semitism approved last year by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, an intergovernmental body.That definition is virtually identical to one which was proposed by pro-Israel lobby groups more than a decade earlier. It recommends that strong criticism of Israel – such as describing that state’s foundation as a “racist endeavor” – should be seen as anti-Semitic.Even the definition’s lead author, formerly a senior figure in the American Jewish Committee, has strongly criticized efforts to use it to stifle speech critical of Israel.Yet the German government has been particularly supportive of the definition. In late 2016, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, then the German foreign minister, contacted senior EU officials to argue that the definition was a “very useful instrument for combating anti-Semitism – both for the police and in science and education.”The definition is not legally binding. Yet 24 of the EU’s 28 governments have endorsed it. According to internal documents, police services in a number of the Union’s countries are already using the definition for training purposes.During a visit to Israel last month, Jourova issued a joint statement with her hosts applauding the European Parliament for endorsing the definition. She encouraged governments to use it while monitoring their citizens’ activities.Not for the first time, the European Union’s representatives are sending out mixed signals. Supposed champions of free speech are trying to muzzle dissent. Solidarity is being smeared to placate an increasingly belligerent Israeli government.

Resource exploitation, military occupation and so-called “anti-terror” efforts led by Western countries are destabilizing several countries in Africa, leading to widespread starvation and sickness for millions of people. Famine has become a daily fact of life for many in Somalia, South Sudan and elsewhere in Africa.

By Mnar Muhawesh | August 1, 2017

Most of us living in the West have never known hunger. In America, food shelves are easily accessed by the most vulnerable of society.

Despite living in a time where there is a global surplus of food, millions of people around the world are still suffering from famine. If you follow mainstream media coverage about these humanitarian disasters, they’re most likely presented through the lens of climate change, high food prices and taxes.

But in places like Yemen, South Sudan, the Lake Chad basin of West Africa and Somalia, where images of skeletal children have become commonplace several countries in Africa and the Middle East, it is perhaps no coincidence that the epidemic of famine is directly linked to modern-day colonialism and imperialism led by the U.S.

While environmental factors do play a role, policies set by powerful oil companies and state actors have created and reinforced the present situation.

In Somalia, where the U.S. has been waging a covert drone war, people have become accustomed to famine. In a span of just one year, between 2011 and 2012,over 260,000 people died, half of them under the age of 5, marking the worst famine in the last 25 years. According to data from Somalia’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), 4.6 percent of the total population and 10 percent of children under 5 died in southern and central Somalia alone.

The organization Somalia’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) found that “the result was widespread livestock deaths, the smallest cereal harvest since the 1991-94 civil war, and a major drop in labor demand, which reduced household income.” Compounding environmental burdens were the wider impacts of British colonialism in Somalia, as well as U.S. militarism.

While the United States plundered Somalia for resources by way of mineral excavation and so-called oil exploration, past and present administrations have also applied their full military might. In 1993, during the Clinton presidency, images of famine and war were used to convince Americans that U.S. military efforts were necessary.

“We went [to Somalia] because only the United States could help stop one of the great human tragedies of this time,” Clinton said. “In a sense, we came to Somalia to rescue innocent people in a burning house.” What Bill Clinton didn’t disclose was that the United States was one of the reasons why the house was on fire to begin with, and military efforts would not help to put out the flames.

In South Sudan – a small statelet less than a decade old and home to some of Africa’s largest oil reserves – nearly 2 million people are on the brink of starvation. South Sudan has found itself in a situation that the UN describes as “catastrophic,” predicting that half the population will be facing food shortages by the end of 2017.

A nation carved out of a unified Sudan with help from the US and “international community,” South Sudan plays an essential role in hosting economic arrangements to the benefit of strategic U.S. interests in the region with its large reserves of gold, construction materials and crude petroleum.

While creating a state of affairs that reinforces hunger, the U.S. and its allies, are finding new ways to exploit the most vulnerable and keep them divided through means of war and weapons imports.

Yemen is also being forced to endure the chilling effects of famine thanks to a U.S.-backed bombing campaign by Saudi Arabia and a well-armed coalition supported by the Trump administration. After years of indiscriminate bombing campaigns and port blockades, starving Yemenis are are also dealing with cholera, with the number of cases set to hit 150,000 in the next 6 months due to a lack of medicine. Those who can’t afford food or other basic necessities are marrying off their daughters in the hopes that they’ll be cared for and that dowries will help provide for them.

Already one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, Yemen is now facing near-total collapse. Saudi Arabia, by blocking imports of food, medicine, and fuel, has given the people of Yemen a death sentence so the U.S. can rattle its saber at Iran and ensure Saudi Arabia’s hegemony over Yemen’s vast oil reserves.

Humanitarian aid will mean little without the end of war, especially if that aid is tied to militarization and resource exploitation.

The U.S. doesn’t deliver aid for the sake of altruism, but with direct or indirect guarantees that they will be able to build or deepen a relationship with recipients for its own benefit. The U.S. has long used disaster relief efforts as a way to advance its military presence and undermine entire countries, like in the use of USAID.

The face of modern colonialism takes many shapes. Empires grow by tightening their grip on the land and the people in order to fill their own pockets.

The downward spiral of famine will not end until countries like Somalia, Yemen and South Sudan are no longer targets of imperialism.

War crimes prosecutor quits UN panel on Syrian civil war because it's ‘pointless'

‘I give up. The states in the Security Council don’t want justice’, former prosecutor Carla Del Ponte mourns, adding that ‘everyone is bad’ in Syria now

An international war crimes prosecutor has resigned from her position on the UN’s investigative panel into human rights abuses in the Syrian civil war because she is so frustrated with its inability to hold criminals to account, it has emerged.

“I give up. The states in the Security Council don’t want justice,” Carla del Ponte told Swiss newspaper Blick over the weekend.

“I can’t any longer be part of this commission which simply doesn’t do anything.”

Ms del Ponte, the former Swiss Attorney-General, rose to prominence for her prosecution work in the international war crimes tribunals into the 1990s Rwanda and former Yugoslavia conflicts.

“We thought the international community had learned from Rwanda. But no, it learned nothing.”

In scathing comments Ms del Ponte criticised all sides in the complex six-year-old Syrian war, including the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the official rebel opposition.

When she was first appointed to the independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria in 2012, “the opposition (members) were the good ones; the government were the bad ones,” she was quoted as saying.

But after six and a half years “Everyone is bad” in the war-torn country, she said.

“The Assad government is committing terrible crimes against humanity and using chemical weapons. And the opposition, that is made up only of extremists and terrorists anymore.”

The Security Council, she said, should have appointed a court similar to those for the Rwanda and Yugoslavian wars - a decision vetoed by permanent member Russia, which is a key backer of the Assad government.

“We have had absolutely no success” holding perpetrators of war crimes in Syria to account, she added.

Ms del Ponte will leave her post in September, she said, sitting on the commission’s meetings until then.

In a statement the commission said it had been aware of Ms del Ponte’s plans since June and that its work “will continue”.

With Ms Del Ponte’s departure there are now just two members left on the commission - Thai professor and former human rights investigator Vitit Muntarbhorn left in 2016 to become the UN’s first-ever independent expert investigating violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In recent months the commission’s relevance has been called into question by the UN’s General Assembly, which - faced with a deadlocked Security Council - in December 2016 created a separate investigative body designed at preparing legal cases for the most serious human rights violations in Syria’s bloody civil war.

Efforts by Turkey, Russia, Iran and the US to broker talks and ceasefires have had some success so far in 2017, although reports of sporadic fighting continue, and extremists Isis continue to roam Syria’s northeast.

Nobel Peace laureates and other luminaries are queueing up to berate Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to intervene in the genocide unfolding in Myanmar. There are, however, bigger villains lurking in the shadows to blame for what is happening to the Rohingya people.

The vilification of Suu Kyi and her spectacular fall from grace – a saint turned sinner in the eyes of the international community – has delighted the faceless military leaders who have for years resented her iconic status as a fearless fighter for democracy who would always defend the oppressed. While many feel understandably angry at her denial of what the UN has described as “ethnic cleansing”, the real villains who have masterminded the brutal scorched-earth campaign against the Rohingya Muslims are the officers and men of Myanmar’s army led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

The number of refugees fleeing the violence and heading for neighbouring Bangladesh now stands at around 410,000, but there is still little indication that the 61-year-old general is considering a cessation of hostilities. Human rights groups, charities and NGOs on the ground say that there are definite no go areas in Rakhine State and you have to wonder why.
The UN has already branded the Myanmar government’s offensive as a “cruel military operation” which “seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, yet the international organisation is extremely reluctant to use the word genocide to describe what is going on. For that, the faceless mandarins in the UN are even more despicable in their silence than the likes of the very pointless Suu Kyi.

Right now, as I write, some of the worst human rights violations in the world are still taking place against the Rohingya Muslims, and not for the first time. This is nothing new. Cries of “never again” when it comes to genocide obviously do not apply to people of colour or those of the Muslim faith.

Over the years there have been countless atrocities meted out on the Rohingya by Myanmar’s military. In 2005, for example, Home Minister Ko Ko and two current senior military commanders serving under the previous military junta, supervised what appear to be war crimes, according to a study by Harvard Law School published in November 2014. If the contents of the report bear scrutiny, then these three are guilty of war crimes which, according to the evidence produced, links them to executions, torture and other atrocities.

The report, published by the school’s Institutional Human Rights Clinic, followed a three-year study which found enough evidence to issue arrest warrants for Ko Ko, Brigadier General Khin Zaw Oo and General Maung Maung Aye to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. Ko Ko was the leader of the Southern Command at the time, while Khin Zaw Oo, the current commander of the Bureau of Special Operations, and General Maung Maung Aye, were also senior officials in the junta accused of brutal campaigns against armed ethnic rebel groups. The Harvard report’s findings were based on more than 150 interviews with people in Myanmar and along the Myanmar-Thailand border, including former government troops who witnessed the junta’s 2005-2006 counterinsurgency operations in the south-eastern district.

Under international law, the three military leaders could be held accountable for their actions as well as crimes committed by troops under their command and control, just as Senior General Min Aung Hlaing should be held accountable for the ethnic cleansing unfolding in Myanmar today.

Several reports similar in content and gravitas to Harvard’s have emerged from subsequent upheavals and atrocities carried out against the Rohingya, including in 2012 when thousands took to the seas in rickety boats to escape persecution by the military.

Since the political and economic reforms of 2010, Myanmar’s relations with the West have improved and sanctions have been lifted, but the US and European Union, in particular, seem more preoccupied with securing trade deals than putting pressure on the regime to implement human rights reforms. Myanmar’s government has in the past made promises to roll out reforms but has not followed through with those pledges.

After reading previous witness accounts over the past decade, what is happening today creates a feeling of déjà vu. These accounts are harrowing, with soldiers forcibly removing and relocating civilians from conflict zones; firing mortars at villages; shooting at fleeing villagers; destroying homes, crops and food stores; laying landmines in civilian areas; enslaving villagers to work as porters; and capturing and executing civilians.

So we have to ask ourselves this simple question: if those military leaders had been hauled before the International Criminal Court (ICC) back in 2006, would Myanmar’s army of today have dared to act with such genocidal intent in Rakhine State today? The answer is equally simple; most probably not.

While Suu Kyi, the de facto Prime Minister of Myanmar, may not have blood on her hands her silence has served to protect those who do, which makes her a rather despicable individual. As it is, she is now reaping the rewards of her vile behaviour by being catapulted to the boondocks of international society. I have a feeling that honorary degrees and international platforms in the West will no longer be offered to Myanmar’s social pariah in the future. She can now reflect in a swamp of her own making but it is hard to see how she can ever regain her global rock star status.

However, thanks to others we are now getting to know the faces and identities of those responsible for carrying out war crimes in Myanmar both today and back in 2005/6. Why, then, is the UN so reluctant to act and use the word “genocide”? As soon as it does, then it will have to issue arrest warrants for those suspected of war crimes against the Rohingya people; and so will UN member states.

Hence, the UN’s silence is reprehensible and even more unforgivable than Suu Kyi’s silence, because its action could actually make a huge difference. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres describes what is happening as “catastrophic”, while the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, went one step further by calling it “ethnic cleansing”. The situation in Myanmar is more than “catastrophic”, though; it is more than “ethnic cleansing”; it is another Rwanda, Srebrenica, Kosovo; it is genocide.

With the UN’s reluctance to call it out for what it is makes its senior officials’ words meaningless. If the powers that be continue to turn a blind eye we can only conclude that the ICC, established in 2002 by the Rome Statute, is no longer fit for purpose.

This was the conclusion reached by the South African government at the African Union summit in Johannesburg in 2015. Many African countries signed up to the ICC post-1998; it was viewed as a court that promised to pursue injustice without fear or favour, but African leaders insist that that is not what has happened.

No doubt others will also view the ICC as being institutionally flawed if it does not act swiftly over what are clearly war crimes being committed in Myanmar today and in years gone by. The court is already mired in accusations of racism, blatant double-standards, hypocrisy, corruption and serious judicial irregularities so you can’t help but wonder what has to be done to get the “world’s court” to swing into action for the Rohingya people.

The institution has special prosecutorial rights of referral and deferral to the UN Security Council; by default, the council’s five permanent members (three of which – China, Russia and the US – are not even ICC members) could act. This begs us to ask whether the UN is indeed a force for good, or if that too is selective in how it operates.

Despite having received more than 9,000 formal complaints about alleged war crimes in at least 139 countries, the ICC has largely chosen to indict around 40 black Africans in eight African countries. In doing so the ICC has ignored all Western human rights abuses in conflicts such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq, and war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the West’s client states. Attempts to charge Israeli generals with war crimes, for example, have never made it beyond the first stage at the ICC which, at the moment, clearly has no interest in what is unfolding in Rakhine State, or Palestine for that matter.

Sadly, unless the international community takes swift action against the monsters in Myanmar by putting these people before the ICC, the Rohingya will soon only be remembered alongside the genocide victims of Rwanda, Srebenica and Kosovo.

According to a 2015 briefing report on the Rohingya published by the Equal Rights Trust, the majority live in “unofficial camps or ghettos where they receive no help. The Rohingya situation is strikingly reminiscent of Jews in Nazi Germany or apartheid-era South Africa.”

Strong words indeed, but are they enough to end the plight of the Rohingya Muslims which has gone on long enough? Handing back a Nobel Peace Prize won’t make any difference to the victims of Myanmar’s genocide, but if the ICC and its senior officials have any self-respect and any care at all for justice in this world, then arrest warrants for alleged war crimes should be issued today, starting with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

An independent analyst has concluded that the United Nations “suppressed” its own report, which criticised its Myanmar strategy and warned that the organisation was ill-prepared to deal with the Rohingya crisis.

The review was written by independent analyst, Richard Horsey, and was submitted in May.

It offered a highly critical analysis of the UN’s approach and said there should be “no silence on human rights”.

A copy of the report was obtained by The Guardian, and it accurately predicted a “serious deterioration” in the six months following its submission, and urged the UN to undertake “serious contingency planning”.

Mr Horsey wrote: “It is recommended that, as a matter of urgency, UN headquarters identifies ways to improve overall coherence in the UN’s system approach”.

He also warned that the Myanmar security forces would be “heavy-handed and indiscriminate” in dealing with Rohingya Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country.

The UN report entitled, “The Role of the United Nations in Rakhine state” was commissioned by Renata Lok-Dessallien, the UN resident coordinator and the organisation’s most senior figure in Myanmar. It made 16 recommendations.

Mr Horsey outlined the need for new staff positions and “frank discussions” with the Myanmar government, and called for the report to be widely distributed among aid agencies.

Rohingya-majority Rakhine has been emptied of half of its Muslim population over the past weeks and more people are on the move as unspeakable acts of violence continue against them.

Many witnesses and rights groups have reported systematic attacks, including rape, mass murder and arson, at the hands of the Myanmar army and Buddhist mobs against Rohingya Muslims.

The UN has described the government-sanctioned crackdown on Rohingya as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

The OIC's joint declaration that recognizes east Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine achieved to mobilize the U.N. to take action in a short time

The results of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit held in Istanbul last week might invite critical developments. First of all, bringing together such a significant summit with broad participation only several days after U.S. President Donald Trump's provocative announcement that Jerusalem will be recognized as the capital of Israel displays great organizational ability and persuasiveness.

In the scope of such a substantial development for the Muslim world, Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took the initiative and acted as the leader of the Muslim communities despite the Arab administrations. If all the Muslim communities went to the polls today to elect a leader, Erdoğan would win in a landslide victory. The latest research by the Pew Research Center also verifies that.

Unfortunately, in many Arab countries, the administrations are detached from their own people, with some even hostile toward them. The most explicit examples of that are Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Both countries are completely controlled by the U.S. They sided with Israel in the Jerusalem crisis, which leads to a gradually widening gap between the administrations and their bases. This gap might create a new Arab spring one day.
During the historical summit in Istanbul, in which the representatives of 49 out of 57 member countries were present, Trump's announcement was declared null and void while the state of Palestine and its capital east Jerusalem were recognized. Unfortunately, an occupied region is in question. East Jerusalem does not have the infrastructure required to be a capital city but even this symbolic step gives a crucial message to the entire world. With this message, it has been made clear that the borders of 1967 might come into effect again. It must be noted that Hamas previously announced that they would declare a state of Palestine based on the borders of 1967 this year.

Also, the entire world has been called to recognize the state of Palestine, which was declared in 1988, while the U.N. and other international organizations have been urged to take action with regard to supporting the Palestinian state and its agents. The OIC summit achieved to mobilize the U.N. in a short time. On Sunday, it was announced that the Jerusalem issue would be discussed at the U.N. Security Council this week. According to the draft prepared before the meeting, the U.N. objects the U.S.'s decision, stating, "Any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded."

The U.N. Security Council considered a draft resolution that calls all the countries to prevent opening a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem. Of course, this draft did not pass since the U.S. used its veto power as a permanent member; however, the U.S. will diverge from the other countries and be left alone in its standpoint. And this is exactly what the U.N. is aiming for. On Dec. 8, the U.N. Security Council condemned the U.S.'s move on Jerusalem as 14 of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, outnumbering the U.S.
In a nutshell, Trump could not draw support from anyone but Israel with regard to the Jerusalem issue. The Muslim world has been able to give a timely response with Erdoğan's initiative, which also mobilized the U.N. Although Arabic administrations ostensibly function as the satellites of Washington, Muslim communities can mobilize and raise awareness.

I think this wrong decision will be rescinded after the U.S. considers the harm it can cause. Trump has signed a document that has been presented to every U.S. president once every six months since 1995. It will not be a surprise if he postpones the issue by signing it again after six months.

The United Nations general assembly has overwhelmingly voted against President Donald Trump’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.

The text says that any decisions regarding the status of the city are “null and void” and must be cancelled.

The non-binding resolution was approved by 128 states, with 35 abstaining, and nine voting against.

The vote came after a redoubling of threats by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said that Washington would “remember” which countries “disrespected” America by voting against it.

The nine who voted against the resolution were the US, Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo.

Among the 35 countries who abstained were Canada and Mexico.

Those voting in favour included the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia and the UK), as well as key US allies in the Muslim majority world.
There were 21 countries who did not turn up for the vote.

While support for the resolution was somewhat less than Palestinian officials had hoped, the meagre tally of just nine votes in support of the US and Israeli position was a serious diplomatic blow for President Trump.

Immediately after the vote, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the result as a “victory for Palestine”.

The Palestinians’ UN envoy, Riyad Mansour, described the result as a “massive setback” for the US.

Mr Mansour told AFP: “They made it about them. They did not make it about Jerusalem, so when you make it about them and to only be able to get nine votes to say ‘no’ to it, I think it was a complete failure for their campaign.”

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office read: “Israel thanks President Trump for his unequivocal position in favour of Jerusalem and thanks the countries that voted together with Israel, together with the truth”.

The dossier claims United Nations aid workers have raped 60,000 people and estimate that the organisation employs 3,300 pedophiles

A WHISTLE blower has claimed UN staff could have carried out 60,000 rapes in the last decade as aid workers indulge in sex abuse unchecked around the world.

The claim is in a bombshell dossier that former senior United Nations official Andrew Macleod handed over to DFID Secretary Priti Patel last year.

In it, Professor Macleod also estimated there are 3,300 pedophiles working for the world body’s various agencies alone.

Thousands more “predatory” sex abusers specifically target aid charity jobs to get close to vulnerable women and children.

And there has been an “endemic” cover-up of the sickening crimes for two decades, with those who attempt to blow the whistle just getting fired.

Sharing his dossier with The Sun, Prof MacLeod last night warned that the spiralling abuse scandal was on the same scale as the Catholic Church’s.

The respected academic said: “There are tens of thousands of aid workers around the world with pedophile tendencies, but if you wear a UNICEF T-shirt nobody will ask what you’re up to.

“You have the impunity to do whatever you want.

“It is endemic across the aid industry across the world”.

“The system is at fault, and should have stopped this years ago.”

Professor MacLeod worked as an aid boss for the UN all over the world, including high profile jobs in the Balkans, Rwanda and Pakistan – where he was chief of operations of the UN’s Emergency Coordination Centre.

He is campaigning for far tougher checks on aid workers in the field as well as the abusers among them to be brought to justice, and wants the UK to lead the fight.

The professor’s grim 60,000 figure is based on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s admission last year that UN peacekeepers and civilian staff abused 311 victims in just one 12 month period over 2016.

The UN also admits that the likely true number of cases reported against its staff is double that, as figures outside of war zones are not centrally collated.

Prof MacLeod also estimates that only one in 10 of all rapes and assaults by UN staff are reported, as even in the UK the reporting rate is just 14 per cent.

Based on evidence from Prof MacLeod, ex-Cabinet minister Priti Patel – who resigned in November last year - today accused senior officials at DFID of being part of the cover up.

Ms Patel said senior DFID staff tried to talk her out of making a critical speech about aid workers’ sex abuse, arguing that it was only by UN soldiers and to claim otherwise was “over-stepping the mark”.

Britain is one of the top 10 contributors to the UN budget, handing over £2bn a year.

Prof MacLeod insisted that meant the “difficult truth” that “child rape crimes are being inadvertently funded in part by United Kingdom tax-payer”.

He added: “I know there were a lot of discussions at senior levels of the United Nations about ‘something must be done’ but nothing effective came of it, and if you look at the record of whistleblowers, they were fired.

“We are looking at a problem on the scale of the Catholic Church — if not bigger.”

Senior Tory MP Conor Burns, who is Boris Johnson’s parliamentary aide, dubbed the Oxfam furore as just “the tip of an iceberg in finding out what has been going on”.

Mr Burns was a university friend of Prof MacLeod and called for him to be listened to very seriously.

Mr Burns added: “I believe that there has been systematic, organised and covered-up activity going on over many, many years”.

Penny Mordaunt tonight vowed to “step up our work to tackle sexual exploitation and abuse across the UN and other international organisations”.

In September last year, PM Theresa May also threatened to withhold cash from the UN and demanded it “win back trust”.

No10 today insisted there will be “zero tolerance” towards any acts of sexual abuse.

But Downing Street ducked out of ordering any investigation into Ms Patel’s allegations, despite their seriousness.

Comments: This is the legacy of white people, they invade, occupy and rape. From their churches to their military to their so called relief efforts, they are all infested with rapists and pedophiles from the lowest worker to the highest boss. And their allies, who also share the same trait of raping, won't order any investigation in it. And the whistle blower, only one to bring this to light is a non-anglo brown person.